A life with Substance

Today is an Up. Yesterday, a down. The majority of relationships that I've been in have been roller coaster relationships. Wicked fights and passionate make ups. I've also been in vanilla pudding relationships, but those usually don't last as long. Does it mean that I thrive on instability? My current partner says that ups and downs are to be expected, but I'm like an EKG with these wicked spikes. Thankfully, we are mostly up, but the downs are pretty bad. Most - no, all - of the bad days have been days with drinking involved.

When my parents met, they were a couple of drinking, smoking party animals. This worked for them for a while, but eventually, my mother joined AA and became sober in all respects. My father reluctantly followed suit and quit drinking. My mother always says that substance abuse was the hardest obstacle for their marriage, and perhaps was the end of it.

As I look forward to my future, I wonder if there will be a point that I stop drinking all together. Furthermore, if I do, wonder if I'll need my partner to quit as well. I've brought it up, but didn't get great results. Do normal people cut back on drinking when they get older? I mean, there are probably less crazy party nights, but we all know the older person at the bar, constantly getting wasted. How do I know I won't end up as or with someone like that? What's the cut off age for party nights? Is it your bachelor or bachelorette party? Is the expectation that I'll eventually have a dry house something that I need to bring up now? I'm wondering if I need to talk about my eventual need for a life with out substances.